From the Frying Pan (Into the Fire)
by Ramen God
Summary: A peaceful vacation and an escape from his endless piles of paperwork: was that too much for Tsuna to ask for? ...Clearly, it was. Somehow, in some way, this was all Reborn's fault.
1. Chapter 1

**From the Frying Pan (Into the Fire)**

Chapter One

Tsuna scrawled his signature on the last sheet of paperwork remaining on his desk with a dramatic flourish and fairly threw his pen down in celebration. "I'm done!" he exclaimed aloud, resisting the urge to jump up and dance in celebration. If he did, he was sure Reborn would find out about it—even from halfway around the world—and then Tsuna would die painfully for disgracing the image of a mafia boss.

Still, even that terrifying thought couldn't shatter Tsuna's good mood. For the first time in months, he could finally go to sleep early! With this goal in mind, Tsuna grabbed his suit jacket and just about skipped to the door. Before he could reach for the doorknob, however, the door was pushed open, just barely avoiding smacking Tsuna in the face.

Curiously, Tsuna peered into the hallway—and then was promptly hit by the urge to curl up in a ball on the floor and cry, regardless of the Reborn-induced death that would be sure to follow if the hitman ever found out.

"Why?" he whimpered, his finely-tailored jacket slipping pathetically to the ground (much like what he wanted to do right now) out of suddenly numb fingers. "How could this happen?

A trio of servants of the Vongola mansion stood in front of him, each looking apologetic. It wasn't the people that were the issue, though—it was what they were carrying. Each person was pushing a metal cart piled high with papers, seemingly keeping from collapsing into a mess on the ground only through the demonic energy they were undoubtedly imbued with.

"The Cloud and Mist Guardians have crossed paths in Japan, and the Varia has destroyed another few villages. The rest are accumulated damage reports from your other Guardians or reports on issues that have arisen within the Vongola Alliance," his head butler offered in way of explanation as the other two servants began wheeling the carts into his office.

"B-but," Tsuna couldn't help but stutter, mouth opening and closing in a manner extremely unbefitting for a twenty-two year-old mafia boss. "I finished everything already!" he almost whined in a plaintive voice.

"My apologies, Boss," the butler bowed. Tsuna was certain that this move was only done to hide a smile at his pain, the traitor. The man was hired by Reborn after all—he had to have a sadistic streak. "Please continue working hard, Boss. Call us if you require anything whatsoever."

"Do my paperwork," Tsuna instantly ordered, shamelessly abusing his authority even though he knew the attempt was fruitless.

"I apologize, Boss, but I am not qualified fill out your reports," the man bowed again, then beat a hasty retreat with the other two servants in tow before Tsuna could do something satisfyingly petty like order him to personally clean Mukuro's room (just to make him suffer as much as Tsuna had to). The door closed with an ominous click, trapping Tsuna in his office with no company but three massive mountains of paperwork.

Tsuna stared longingly out the window nearest to him for a moment, wishing he could just fling himself out and fly away with the aid of his trusty gloves, before a revelation hit him. He _could_ just do that! Well, not the flinging himself out the window part, but if there was ever the perfect time for him to run awa—ahem, take a well-deserved vacation to a relaxing and reclusive area, now was the time.

The mafia world was in an unprecedented state of peaceful prosperity after his painstaking efforts at reform, and Tsuna was confident enough in the Vongola Alliance's power to leave the country for a few months for a nice, calm vacation. Even without him, his Guardians, the Varia, the CEDEF, and the various families allied to the Vongola would undoubtedly take good care of Vongola.

Plus, as luck would have it, Reborn was currently in America for a meeting with an extremely important weapons dealer. Hibari was still in Japan with the Foundation, and Mukuro and Chrome were both wandering somewhere around the Pacific (supposedly on mafia business, but that was always doubtful whenever Mukuro was concerned). Gokudera, Yamamoto, and Ryohei were also away from Italy at the moment, and the children were all at a prestigious boarding school (for mafiosos-in-training, of course). Tsuna could be out of the country before any of them came back and tried to stop him, and _they_ would be forced to deal with his paperwork instead!

Tsuna practically crowed with triumph at his master plan, conveniently forgetting the fact that the people he forced his paperwork on (who would probably end up being the Varia until his guardians returned) would undoubtedly hunt him down and drag him back.

He would be brutally reminded of these facts in the future, but for the time being, ignorance was bliss.

"Now," Tsuna mused aloud, "All I need is an excuse to go away…" If he claimed to be on a business trip for Vongola, then when Reborn inevitably found out (which hopefully wouldn't be until a few months later), maybe he would only be half-killed rather than be brutally wiped off of the face of the earth then resurrected to fill out paperwork for the rest of eternity. Reborn could be merciful, right? Tsuna had already been the boss for over six years now, of course even his Spartan tutor would have to show some leniency. "This is a great plan!" Tsuna said out loud to the stacks of paperwork, which thankfully did not take on anthropomorphic qualities and talk back. Tsuna took a second to visualize that, and instantly knew what his next nightmare was going to be about.

(Now would be a good time to mention that Tsuna was extremely sleep-deprived, and thus in no state to be making rational decisions. Paperwork does horrible things to a person's sanity.)

Tsuna grabbed a handful of papers off of the stack closest to him and riffled through them, searching for a suitable excuse. A repair bill from the Varia, a lawsuit for Mukuro, a village petition for Hibari to get the hell out… all the usual inconveniences. He was about to give up on this pile and take up a new bunch of reports when he hit the jackpot.

"Ferro Family disappears before scheduled elimination, culprit unknown… Azzurro Vanel, boss, drug dealing… Hm, Britain? Perfect, perfect," Tsuna muttered to himself. Indeed, this was the perfect "business trip." This sort of low-level investigation would've normally been assigned to a new recruit—after all, nobody _really_ cared about the disappearance of a little family such as the Ferro family, especially considering the fact that the family was already slated for a raid conducted by the Vongola Alliance, endorsed by Tsuna's continuing attempts to reform the mafia from the inside. Depending on who would have ended up in charge of said raid, it was probably a kinder fate for them to have disappeared first anyway.

The mission was even in _Britain_ , the place where mafia families went to die. It couldn't have been more perfect. Tsuna could easily just hop on a ship to England and loiter around there for a few months on beautiful, blissful vacation under the pretense of "investigating."

Humming cheerfully to himself, Tsuna folded up the piece of paper and tucked it into his pocket. "Goodbye, hellish paperwork," he exclaimed, waving gleefully at the stacks of paper as he swept through the door. "England, here I come!"

…

Two weeks later, Tsuna was convinced that this was the best decision he'd ever made. He'd arrived safely in London with nothing on him but a Storage Box-but then again, a Storage Box was more than enough. Within the box, he had stored a few sets of clothes, a fair amount of money and of course, his weaponry.

He had some difficulty in finding a place to stay, initially, as people-shockingly-tended to be wary of foreigners with accented English and no real identification to speak of. Still, eventually an inn-keeper folded under the considerable combined force of Tsuna's cajoling, money, and above-average looks, and Tsuna was ushered into a rather dingy room, where he was informed he could stay indefinitely as long as he had the money to back it up.

Even though the room was small and not exactly sparkling-clean, Tsuna didn't mind in the slightest. Here, at least, there were no appearances he had to keep up with as the Tenth Vongola Boss, no judging eyes, no loud and chaotic fights keeping him up at night…

Plus, of course, there was no paperwork. (That was the most important part.)

Tsuna had wandered around town for a few days doing nothing in particular-he bought a few sweets here, talked to a couple of kind people there, and generally just had a great time. Every so often, he would actually investigate a little, casually calling up some of his underworld contacts in the area. Even if no mafia families chose to base in England, there was no shortage of informants who retreated here for that very reason.

In the course of his "investigations," he had discovered a surprisingly little amount of information considering just how proficient his contacts usually were. He _had_ managed to find out, however, who the people that Azzurro had last been seen in "public" (or as public as the Underworld could get, anyhow) with were: Ciel Phantomhive, Angelina Dalles, Arthur Randall, and a Chinese man named Lau (no last name known).

There were two other German men in the last known meeting as well, but they had already returned to Germany and Tsuna had no intention of chasing them down until he had exhausted all other leads… Which, at the snail-like pace he was "investigating" at, would take at least until Reborn finally" hunted him down, so he doubted he would ever have to try to track them down.

Most of his sources seemed to agree that the most likely culprit for the disappearance of Azzurro and his Family was Ciel Phantomhive, due to his status as the Queen's Watchdog (which was, as Tsuna finally figured out after much confusion, a nickname for the Phantomhive family's job of taking care of the English Royal Family's dirty work). The other possible suspect was Arthur Randall, who was Scotland Yard's police commissioner-which definitely gave him a motive to go after the Ferro Family. In both cases, it was likely that Vanel was eliminated for his involvement in the drug trade.

Personally, Tsuna thought that the culprit was probably Ciel Phantomhive-the Ferro Family had disappeared into thin air after all, and if the Scotland Yard had managed to arrest him and his entire Family, then the Vongola should've easily been able to trace Azzurro's location. It was a pretty cut-and-dry case, to be honest; Vanel had probably overreached himself and attempted to set up a wide-spread drug trade in England, and promptly got eliminated for his trouble. If Tsuna wanted to, he could probably go hunt down this Ciel Phantomhive and figure the whole thing out right now, then return home to Italy…

Ha, yeah right, that wasn't going to happen. Tsuna was going to drag this whole thing out for as long as possible and enjoy his time off.

Anyway, that was enough investigating for now, right? He'd even managed to find a prime suspect! Now, if anyone came after him, Tsuna could actually say with confidence that he had done something useful. He could relax without worries now…

Hm, come to think of it, wasn't there some Indian culture exhibition going on nearby? That sounded like fun, maybe he'd drop by there…

…

Apparently, Tsuna mused to himself as he stared up at the stage, Destiny _really_ wanted him to investigate the Ferro Family and return back to Italy as soon as possible. ...Could Destiny be working for Reborn? That was actually terrifyingly possible-it would certainly explain a lot about his life.

Then again, maybe it really was a freaky coincidence. Regardless, the fact remained that the black-clad man standing on the stage and making curry with unnecessarily dramatic motions was, apparently, the butler of the Phantomhive family.

'Hm… That means that Ciel Phantomhive should be around here too, right?' Tsuna mused to himself, shifting to casually look through the crowd. Just because he wasn't interested in actively investigating didn't mean he couldn't take advantage of an opportunity that practically fell into his lap. Who knew, maybe he'd actually need to know what Ciel Phantomhive looked like (cough, when someone caught up to him and tried to drag him home, because the more proof he had to show he'd been investigating, the better).

Nobody in the crowd really stood out as "Queen's Watchdog" material, though. Then again, there were a _lot_ of people, so maybe Tsuna just couldn't see him right now. He'd just wait until the butler came off the stage and met up with his master. Until then… Tsuna rocked back on his heels and sniffed the air. The curry smelled _delicious_. Tsuna didn't exactly have that many opportunities to try authentic curry, but even he could tell that the two leading contenders in this curry battle were the Phantomhive butler and the Indian chef.

After the judging (which featured an unnecessarily excited and vaguely creepy blond man), Tsuna realized that Destiny really _didn't_ work for Reborn. In fact, Destiny must be helping Tsuna, because it led him to this blessed place, where Tsuna was able to eat two different plates of the _best curry ever_. He was practically in tears of joy just tasting it.

It was official. This was the _best_ decision he had ever made.

After he had devoured both dishes, Tsuna belatedly remembered that he had previously wanted to find Ciel Phantomhive. Skimming through the crowd, he quickly found the butler, who stood out quite a bit thanks to his height, handsome features, and black clothing. Still, he couldn't see anyone near him who could be the Earl Phantomhive…

Out of the crowd of people around the butler, there were four older males, but two of them were Indian, one was Chinese, and one was dressed in chef's clothes. None of them could be Ciel, but then who was? Tsuna glanced through the faces once more, and his eyes caught on the high-quality, fancy clothes of a boy. Someone with clothes that fine… could it be?

Then the boy turned around, and his Hyper Intuition twinged. There was no mistake-this child was the elusive Earl Phantomhive.

"Goddammit!" Tsuna cursed aloud. Out of his many reliable contacts, not a single one thought to inform him that _Ciel Phantomhive_ was a pre-teen boy who couldn't be older than thirteen? _Not one_? He really needed to get new informants…

I mean, sure, Tsuna knew what it was like to be an inordinately young leader, but even _he_ had ascended his mafia boss-ship at the age of seventeen. Back when Tsuna had been thirteen, in the B.R. (Before Reborn) ages, he had been a useless wimp. There was no sugar-coating it.

A four years difference between the age Tsuna had first become a mafia boss and the (estimated) age Ciel Phantomhive was at now as a Lord didn't _seem_ like that much but… It really was. The only reason Tsuna was able to become a mafia boss was through the extreme, life-threatening trials he had faced in his training years. Also, Reborn.

But he really, really doubted that Ciel Phantomhive had his own Reborn (because the thought of another existence like Reborn's in this world was so utterly terrifying it just couldn't be true or else the universe might implode), so what exactly must've this child gone through to obtain his title as an Earl?

'Most likely an orphan,' Tsuna mused to himself. 'Otherwise, his father would definitely still be in possession of the title.' Without his permission, Tsuna felt sympathy well up inside of him for the child. To have to carry the weight of a name tainted by the Underworld at such a young age… More than anyone, Tsuna understood how it felt.

Regardless, the young Earl Phantomhive had made his choice by stepping into the Underworld. Despite his age, it was still entirely possible that he had been the one to make the Ferro Family disappear. After all, Mukuro had eradicated the Estraneo Family at around the same age… Tsuna couldn't allow his personal emotions to interfere with the investigation. The truth must be fou-

...Wait a second. Why was he becoming so serious about this?! This was supposed to be a vacation, a _vacation_. If luck was on his side, then he wouldn't even have to deal with Ciel Phantomhive much at all!

It wasn't any of his business anyway.

With that thought in mind, Tsuna turned away from where he was gawking unattractively at the motley group standing together, ready to leave the building… Before he doubled back, grabbed five more plates of curry, and hightailed his way out of there.

Who cared about Ciel Phantomhive? Tsuna was on his hard-earned vacation, and goddammit he was going to enjoy it before Reborn caught up to him!

 _A/N: So… It's me? TiM fans, please don't kill me. Anyway, thanks for reading! I hoped you enjoyed it. I wrote this mainly because there are not enough good Kuroshitsuji crossovers, and I like writing weird crossovers in the first place. Before I get a review asking about how the timeline works, it's basically like this: the Kuroshitsuji timeline runs like canon, but the KHR timeline is moved forward. Tsuna and co. are still Tenth Generation, though, mostly because it doesn't make sense to me how KHR canon works. If Vongola was founded 400 years ago, then each boss would have to have stayed in power for around forty years; to me, this seems entirely impossible. Giotto, for one, definitely couldn't have stayed in power for much more than 10 years, as he still had time to move to Japan, settle down, and have kids. I imagine that most other bosses, with the exception of a few like Timoteo, couldn't have had that long of a lifespan considering they're in the mafia. Plus, I doubt very many ascended to power when they were as young as Tsuna. If you disagree with me, just roll with it and think of a plot device if you want to._

 _Anyway, that was longer than I thought it would be. Again, thanks for reading! I do have a question regarding reviews… Basically, I have a really bad habit of not answering reviews for a really long time, as I tend to see the review, fangirl over it, then tell myself I'll reply to it later. What I want to know is this: do you still want me to answer your review even if it's, like, a month late? I truly do appreciate each and every review that's posted, so I would be happy to answer all of them… I just end up feeling really awkward and guilty if I do forget to answer for a really long time, so I end up worrying if I'm actually being a bother by answering…_


	2. Chapter 2

**From the Frying Pan (Into the Fire)**

Chapter Two

Ciel half-turned at the sound of a large commotion on the other side of the hall, but deemed it unworthy of his interest after the crowd began settling again. He was about to return to the conversation he had been having with Prince Soma when his hand brushed against an envelope tucked into his coat pocket.

"When did-!" he exclaimed in surprise.

"Ah, the Queen's servant put it there earlier," Sebastian supplied helpfully.

"And why didn't you say anything then?" Ciel demanded through gritted teeth.

"You didn't ask," Sebastian replied cheerfully. If there was even the slightest chance that it would connect, Ciel would've tried to punch that insolent smile off Sebastian's face. As if Sebastian knew exactly what Ciel was thinking, the butler's smirk only widened.

Ciel made an annoyed noise and turned to the envelope instead, opening it easily. "Hm? Tickets? And a letter as well."

"Oh? Maybe it's a Christmas present for a little boy," Sebastian suggested innocently.

"Shut up. I'll kill you," Ciel threatened, single uncovered eye glaring at the butler. "Let's go back. I'm tired." He handed the envelope to Sebastian.

"Of course, Young Master," Sebastian agreed, the two of them moving away from the crowd.

"What are those tickets for anyway?" Ciel asked once they were out of the hearing of Soma, Agni, and the other servants.

"Let's see… They're… for the circus. Noah's Ark Circus, to be exact," Sebastian said, removing the tickets from the envelope. At the same time, he helped Ciel step into the horse-drawn carriage waiting for them.

"Give me the letter," Ciel demanded once they were seated inside.

"Yes, Young Master." Sebastian handed over the folded piece of paper previously tucked within the envelope.

Ciel opened it, scanning over the contents quickly. "It seems that the circus these tickets are for is associated with many recent disappearances of children… The Queen would like us to investigate. And… oh?"

Sebastian tilted his head, curious at the young earl's sudden pause. "Is something the matter, Young Master?"

"Her Majesty would also like us to investigate a certain powerful individual who has recently entered the country," Ciel murmured thoughtfully.

"And who might this individual be?" Sebastian prompted curiously.

Ciel looked up, his single eye intent. "The leader of the most powerful mafia organization in the world… Tsunayoshi Sawada, the Vongola Decimo."

Drumming his fingers impatiently on his cane, Ciel thought about the situation briefly before ordering, "Sebastian, gather whatever information you can find on him and his purpose within England."

"Yes, my Lord," Sebastian responded lowly, a smirk curling his lips. "I'll begin at once."

…

Across the city, Tsuna sneezed loudly, a sudden shiver crawling up his spine. And when you had Hyper Intuition, you learned not to ignore sudden premonitions.

"Uh-oh," Tsuna muttered, abruptly worried. Could his Guardians have caught up already? Or maybe they found out he was gone? What if it was the Varia? Or—what if it was _Reborn_?!

"No, no," Tsuna tried to calm himself down and stop himself from hyperventilating. "Not this soon, there's no way… I'll be fine, I'll be fine."

(As Tsuna would later find out, he would not be fine.)

…

"Well?" Ciel demanded from his perch on the bed as Sebastian knelt in front of him, buttoning up his nightshirt. "What did you find about Sawada? Why is he here?"

"There's surprisingly little information available about him even in the Underworld. His contacts are very close-lipped, even in the face of my… _persuasive_ … measures," Sebastian began as he stood up from his kneeling position. "However, I did discover that the Decimo has been asking around about a certain Italian mafia boss we were in contact with recently."

"Vanel?" Ciel questioned, his mind making the leap immediately. "Is he here to take revenge for their destruction, then? The Ferro Family wasn't particularly large, but perhaps they were allied with the Vongola… Or maybe he's here to continue where Vanel left off and supply drugs into England… There's no way to know his exact motives right now, but he's undoubtedly looking for us. That could become troublesome." Ciel stared off into space, thinking intently, before he turned his gaze back onto Sebastian. "What else did you learn about him?"

"Tsunayoshi Sawada, currently twenty-two years old, was born in a small town in Japan and began training to take over the Vongola Family when he was thirteen years old. He became head of the family when he was seventeen years old and has since succeeded in increasing the power and influence of the Vongola Family greatly, partially by creating an extremely large number of alliances with other powerful families. He's also initiated contact with the Italian police. There's some unrest going on in the Underworld at the moment, however; I could not find more detailed information from British sources, as they're more isolated from current events outside of the country. His closest advisors and protectors—" Sebastian was cut off in the middle of his report by Ciel.

"That's enough for now. Put the rest of the personal information into a report and leave it on my desk. I'll read it tomorrow," Ciel ordered, waving a hand imperiously. "Her Majesty mentioned that she would like to learn about the mafia's exceptional technology for the sake of bettering protections for England. What is she talking about? It didn't appear that Vanel had any particular weaponry that could be as powerful as Her Majesty implied."

Sebastian hummed thoughtfully. "I apologize, Young Master. I had also gathered information on the Vongola's exceptional battle prowess, but was unable to gain any specifics. No detailed records exist of their battles, despite the amount of conflicts they've been in the past few years. Even their contacts remain quiet despite my… _best_ efforts."

"Tch. How useless of you," Ciel muttered, flopping backwards onto his bed and staring up at the ceiling.

Sebastian twitched, the ever-present polite smile on his face tightening. ' _Ah… What a terribly spoiled brat the Young Master is.'_

"Sebastian," Ciel abruptly ordered.

"Yes, Young Master?"

"Tomorrow morning, deliver an invitation to this Sawada Tsunayoshi to come to dinner. And make sure you prepare accordingly."

"Dinner for tomorrow, Young Master? If I recall correctly, the Police Commissioner is already due to arrive in order to discuss recent events involving our foreign… _friends_ ," Sebastian reminded the boy.

"Tch, fine. The day after tomorrow, then. We're working on a tight schedule, however… We still have to return to London in time for the circus. Make sure everything is perfectly in order, Sebastian."

"Of course, Young Master," Sebastian acquiesced obediently.

"Good. Now, I'm going to sleep. I'm tired." Ciel promptly rolled over and tugged the blankets over himself, purposefully ignoring the presence of the butler.

"Yes, Young Master. Sleep well." Sebastian quietly extinguished the candles, his red eyes flickering in the light briefly, before he silently left the room.

…

Tsuna was nursing a cup of coffee in his small rented room when a knock sounded on his door. Immediately, Tsuna was on his feet and staring at the door suspiciously. Could it be that the Vongola had caught up with him? Who else would be looking for him?

At the same time, though, anyone who Tsuna was truly terrified of catching him (read: Reborn, Xanxus, Hibari, Mukuro, and company) would certainly never knock politely on the door. If it had been any of them, his poor door would already have been obliterated and smashed to smithereens.

Maybe it wasn't them, then. Tsuna _had_ estimated it would be at least a month before he was found, given how many of the Guardians had been away on long-term missions and how busy the Varia was, and it had only been half that time.

(Of course, Tsuna had also been extremely optimistic about how his servants would act, in that he believed that they would not spread word of his disappearance to even the Guardians on long-term missions. This was a mistake, as he would soon learn.)

Cautiously, Tsuna moved closer to the door. His Hyper Intuition wasn't acting up too much, but even it wasn't always infallible. Finally, he took the leap of faith and pulled the door open swiftly—

And promptly screamed, slammed the door closed in the man's face, bolted all the locks, and leaped as far away as he could get all in the span of a few seconds.

"Oh my god, oh my _god_ , _oh my god_ ," Tsuna whispered, clutching a hand desperately to his chest. Was that Reborn, oh my god, _was that Reborn_ , Tsuna _couldn't breathe_.

He had glimpsed a tall, slender male dressed in a crisp black suit with black hair, and his body had acted on instinct from there. He really hadn't gotten a good look at the man's face, admittedly, but it was an _ingrained reaction_ , okay, he legitimately _couldn't control his instincts after all of those years of trauma_.

Still, though… the door hadn't been turned into splinters by a barrage of bullets yet. That was very un-Reborn-like behavior. Could it be…

…could it be that he had shrieked like a little girl and slammed the door shut in some random stranger's face?

"Oh my god," Tsuna repeated faintly for the umpteenth time. If Reborn ever found out about this un-mafia-boss-like behavior, he was so dead. Even more dead than he already was, which was _exceptionally_ dead. Decomposing-corpse-dead. Or maybe even past that stage? What was past that?

"Focus, Tsuna. Focus," Tsuna muttered to himself, pinching his own hand roughly. "Okay. Okay, you can fix this. It'll be okay."

Summoning all his courage, Tsuna tentatively reached out to unlock the latch (tentatively because what if this was a _trap_ , what if it really _was_ Reborn and this was some sick way to make him suffer in suspense, because if it was he was _dead dead dead_ ).

Plastering a smile on his face, Tsuna opened the door once more, all the while praying to every god that had ever existed that he wasn't about to face his death in the form of Satan-in-human-form i.e. Reborn.

"I'm terribly sorry about that. How can I help you?" Tsuna managed to force out through the swell of relief tightening his throat as he took in the face of the stranger. The man in front of him was exceptionally handsome and dressed in a neat black suit, but he _wasn't Reborn, bless everything_.

…while he wasn't Reborn, though, he _was_ familiar. Very familiar. Where had he seen this man before? It must have been recently…

"I'm here to extend an invitation for you to join my master, Earl Phantomhive, for dinner tomorrow night. Would you be able to join us, Mr. Sawada?" the handsome man asked politely through a blinding smile.

"The Earl… Phantomhive?" Tsuna repeated slowly. Earl Phantomhive. Earl Phantomhive, as in the little child lord, the Queen's Watchdog, that he was supposedly "investigating", and _oh_ , this was the butler who had participated in the curry competition. Oh. Oh dear. Something had definitely gone wrong in his investigating then, but he swore he had been _discreet_ …

"Sir?" the butler prompted.

"Oh! Oh, yes, of course I'm available…?" Tsuna trailed off, abruptly realizing exactly what he was agreeing to.

"Excellent! The details are written in this invitation. Would you like us to provide transportation for you tomorrow, or would you be able to find your own way?" the butler asked, smile widening, as he pushed an envelope into Tsuna's limp hands.

"I'll… I'll be fine on my own," Tsuna responded, feeling slightly disconnected from the entire situation. How had everything escalated so quickly? Why was this investigation getting so _serious_?

"Then, we'll see you tomorrow night, Vongola Decimo," the butler said, bowing slightly.

Tsuna nodded numbly, retreating back into his room and closing and locking the door behind him. He stumbled to the tiny kitchen and almost mechanically sat down onto the only chair, still clutching the pristine envelope, which he was wrinkling, actually. Almost absent-mindedly, he smoothed out the thick paper.

Wait a second.

 _Vongola Decimo_?!

Well. Things were even worse than he had expected. Forget about just Reborn, _all_ of his Guardians were going to kill him. Even Hayato! And Tsuna couldn't even blame them because somehow he had revealed his identity to the _Queen's Watchdog_ and was going to go to dinner with him and where had this all gone wrong?

"All I wanted was a vacation," Tsuna whined to himself as he slumped onto the kitchen table, narrowly avoiding the abandoned, long-cold cup of coffee.

Okay. No. He could still salvage this situation. If anyone asked, he _intentionally_ went to meet with the Earl Phantomhive in order to complete the investigation as _thoroughly_ as possible. Yes. Yes, that was it. Tsuna was only going above and beyond his duty for the sake of upholding the name of Vongola Decimo, that was all. He would go to the dinner and conduct himself with dignity, giving nothing away and ferreting out all the little lord's secrets. Of course.

(Besides, what else was he supposed to do? Go back to Italy? Hell no. He would never get a second of freedom for _years_ after this stunt, so he was going to enjoy this as long as he could. Even if it _was_ getting just a little bit complicated.)

"Okay. Okay, dinner tomorrow with the Queen's Watchdog. Yes, I can do this. I'm the Vongola Decimo. If I can handle Xanxus and Hibari and Mukuro, I'll be fine. Nothing can be more difficult than trying to stop everyone from destroying the Vongola Mansion during Vongola Alliance gatherings. I survived Reborn for nine years. I even defeated _Byakuran_ , for heaven's sake. I'll be _fine_ ," Tsuna told himself. Pep talk completed, Tsuna nodded decisively, standing up to pour the rest of his cold coffee down the drain, before he froze.

"Oh crap, what do I _wear_?"

…

"I have returned, Young Master," Sebastian said as he stepped into Ciel's office. His eyes widened slightly as he saw the unusual sight in front of him, and he turned away slightly to hide a snicker. An annoyed growl told him he was not successful.

"Sebastian! Get him off of me!" Ciel ordered from under Prince Soma, whose entire body was draped imploringly over Ciel's small frame.

"Ciel! Don't be mean! Explain to me how the square box with the people inside works!" Prince Soma whined pitifully.

"Sebastian…" Ciel growled ominously.

"Yes, my Lord," Sebastian replied, amusement coloring his tone, even as he took a step towards the unlikely pair. "Prince Soma, please remove yourself from the Young Master. I'm afraid that we have some business we must conduct privately."

Prince Soma quailed under Sebastian's eerily smiling face and approaching figure, and hastily let go, to Ciel's eternal relief. "B-but, _Ciel_! You need to take a break once in a while! Come play with me!"

"I'm afraid we have important guests arriving both today and tomorrow. There's a lot to be done. _Please_ , Prince Soma," Sebastian answered in lieu of his master. The Indian prince visibly drooped, but reluctantly walked towards the door, dragging his feet and glancing behind him once in a while as if hoping that Ciel would call him back.

Ciel, predictably, did no such thing. Rather, he flopped back into his chair in relief. "Finally," he sighed.

"That's not proper behavior for a lord, Young Master," Sebastian admonished lightly.

Ciel just waved a hand impatiently at him. "Well? What did the Vongola Decimo say?" he demanded.

"He accepted the invitation, of course. Although…" Sebastian trailed off thoughtfully.

"What is it?" Ciel asked, straightening up in his chair and leaning forwards to stare Sebastian down. "Is something wrong?"

"The man did have a very peculiar disposition for the supposed leader of the most powerful mafia family in the world," Sebastian mused thoughtfully.

"How so?" Ciel questioned.

"Very… flustered. Timid. Panicked," Sebastian described.

"Oh?" Ciel muttered, gaze dropping as he thought. "Could he be a figurehead then? He did ascend to leadership at a fairly young age… Maybe he's being used by someone else within his family?"

"Hm… I don't believe so, Young Master," Sebastian offered cryptically.

"Why is that?" Ciel asked suspiciously, his single visible eye narrowing.

Sebastian smiled, dark and demonic, his eyes flashing crimson. "Because, little lord… he smelled like _death_."

Ciel paused, taken aback, before he pushed forward. "Like _death_? What do you mean, like death?"

Sebastian hummed. "It's difficult to explain, I'm afraid, Young Master. If a human has killed another recently, there's usually a scent of death left behind for a brief period of time, but this man… the scent is ingrained within him. It's very peculiar. I've never seen anything like it."

"Does that mean that he killed so many people that the scent clings to him?" Ciel demanded, gripping the edge of the desk tightly.

"Not necessarily, Young Master. I have been contracted to some humans who killed thousands, and even then the smell always faded over time. This is very new and interesting," Sebastian replied, a gleam in his eyes.

"Hm." Ciel settled back in his chair, frowning deeply. "Another unknown about this man, then."

"So it seems, Young Master," Sebastian replied. He let his unnaturally red eyes dull to a more human color and checked his pocket-watch (for show, of course, considering that as a demon he had a perfect sense of time). "I'm afraid I must get to work in order to prepare for the arrival of our guests tonight, Young Master. Is there anything else you require?"

"Get me something sweet to eat," Ciel ordered, even as he still tapped his finger on the desk in contemplation and stared off into space. Sebastian could practically see that ingenious, cruel, yet childish mind whirring away at the new issue presented to him.

"You'll ruin your appetite for dinner, Young Master," Sebastian chided in reply.

"I don't care," Ciel replied, an unconscious edge of petulance to his tone.

"Yes, yes, Young Master," Sebastian replied amusedly as he exited the office, closing the double doors behind him. "Now… it's time to get those imbec— _servants_ to work, I suppose." He strode towards the servants' quarters, resigned to another day of cleaning up after the botched work of the so-called "servants". Thankfully, the impression made on the Police Commissioner was not quite as important, so the tasks would not be terribly demanding (though Sebastian was confident this fact would not stop the servants from messing up).

Tomorrow's guest, however…

Now that, he would have to prepare for. Extensively.

 _A/N: I am alive! Yeah, um. I am not a reliable updater, as I'm sure you can tell. I'm terribly sorry._

 _Anyway, I hope you enjoyed the chapter! Feel free to leave your thoughts/ideas/questions in a comment ;)_

 _Also, just saying, Sebastian could totally hear every bit of Tsuna's freak-out session inside his room, considering he_ is _a demon and thus his hearing is inhumanly sharp. So, yeah. Take from that what you will lol_

 _Thanks for reading!_


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